Hil: Tell me, my little hotspot, does your laptop (make??) have built-in Wi-Fi (eg, Intel Centrino)?

MM,

It's a long time since somebody called me a hotspot. And I thought that a Centrino was one of those cars with a fat bottom made by Fiat.

:o)

My laptop's a Dell Inspiron. Does it need built-in WiFi to access a hotspot then? I just assumed that it was something within the Datacard that allowed it to access hotspots.

Hil,

The datacard only accesses the cellular systems. It's a quad band 850/900/1800/1900 GPRS and W-CDMA (3G) device.

You need either the built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b or g or, if the laptop doesn't have that, another plug-in card for Wi-Fi.

Fiat Centrino does have a nice ring to it. Acer do a Ferrari-branded laptop, but they tend to overheat, just like the real thing.

Oh, I see. Thanks MM.

So if I had a WiFi plug-in didgeredoo, would I then be able to access the hotspot in the hotel down the road? Is it free, or would I have to pay for it? And if it's paid for, who would I have to pay and what else would I need?

edit: I think I've probably sussed out how it works now, MM. How strong are the signals on the WiFi hotspots? Would I have to be in the hotel grounds to receive it, or do they reach a few hundred yards? Also the local hotspot in France seems to be operated by Orange. Do Vodafone charge extra (roaming) to hook onto it?

Hil, Now you've got your didgeridoo sussed, you'll find the Wi-Fi software, either as supplied with the aforesaid digeridoo or as supplied for the built-in Wi-Fi, will tell you when you're within range of a hotspot. As you'll be sur le continent, you'll find that Wi-Fi ranges are like wavelengths and are in metres, not yards ;-) Either way, about 30 yards/metres is a likely reliable range, depending on obstructions. Wi-Fi operates at 2.4GHz or about 13cm wavelength, so solid things bigger than 13cm reflect, attenuate or partially obstruct the radio waves (it's how Radar works, innit).

If you're within range of a a Wi-Fi hotspot and you try to browse to a site, chances are you will get a home page from the hotspot provider instead of the page you tried to access. Normally, this will invite you to perform a credit card transaction to pay for the time (don't know about France, but T-mobile in the US charge about $6/hour, unlimited data).

You'll find that the Voda software will just tell you about Voda hotspots, not other networks. My version doesnt give me any Spanish or French hotspots.

Hilary,

Hotel WiFi is sometimes free as a service to the residents. It was when we stayed in Lech earlier this year and it is at The Millstream in Bosham.

BTOpenzone is worth subscribing to if you expect to use the gizmo in the UK. They have partners overseas, but these will be more like service providers rather than your nearby hotel.

But your great bit of luck would be to find a neighbour using a WiFi internet modem and not bothering to protect it. There is one in the block of flats next door to my photographic studio - not that I'd dream of hitching a ride on it of course!!!

TP

MM, TP, Thanks.

To be honest, I can't really be bothered to go to a hotel to find a hotspot so that I can connect my laptop. I was hoping that the range of the hotspots might be quite extensive so that I could reach it without venturing off track from a route between my fridge and pool.

The idea of piggybacking onto somebody else's network is fascinating though and I've already taken the step of purchasing a wireless network PCMCIA card for my laptop in the off chance that one of my Gallic neighbours is feeling generous. Should that be the case, I would of course notify him immediately so that he could take the appropriate measures to properly secure his network.

Hils :-)

Does anyone know whether its possible to record bloomberg tv (internet version http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/tv/tv_index_europe.html) and how?

I've always used Outlook Express for my Blueyonder email, but I can only access this from my home computer.
I'm now trading from another computer so need to use Blueyonder webmail, can anyone tell me how to stop Outlook Express deleting my mail from Blueyonders servers so that I can read my mail from any computer ?

Tools
Accounts
Properties
Advanced

Leave a copy of messages on server
Apply

Haystack thanks

Need to know what your Broadband connection speed is?

Try this > http://www.tiscali.co.uk/help/broadband/speed.HTLM then click on What speed are you getting? (Here)

Cheers...

Hilary

In addition to the above advice, if you use a WiFi hotspot, make sure that your Windows SP2 firewall is turned on and that the 'No Exeptions' box is checked.

just to say that i returned my MOBO,we had it working then left on overnight and was no good and went back to old problems,
also had to RMA a pair of 1gig cosair sticks as one of them was giving errors in mem 86 test,the other PC biuld was like a dream X2 3800 overclocked to 2500 ghz,

steve

i find this site for speed tests very good,iam on NTL 10meg and i get just under 8 meg most of the time now,

http://www.broadbandspeedtest.net/intro.asp

and

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
click on speed test on the left,i just got 9.4 meg

this is the speed test result page

click here for results

Speed tests. A couple of points I've found (I'm on BT broadband for my sins).
1. I can't get the adslguide site to work on my pc. I've removed Java and re-installed and Java site says I'm up to date & everything AOK but still stuck with the grey screen on adsl site.

2. When I've been having problems with slow speeds I've also used the BT wholesale site (thanks to Kayak I think it was).
http://speedtest.btcentralplus.com/cgi-bin/home.page.pl
I find it gave me accurate results but the BT helpline plonkers in India refuse to use it and they say it is inaccurate.

3. Try the Speakeasy speed test. Very pleased with it. I like dials 'n things!!
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

bolshi, in Control Panel/Java/Advanced window, check that 'Internet Explorer' is ticked under '&ltAPPLET&gt tag support'. That makes IE use the new Java rather than MS Java, so you will notice minor differences in other web pages. Personally I prefer MS Java.

The BT wholesale speed test has known problems when trying to measure speeds higher than 3 or 4Mb/s I think. Also it only measures performance at the exchange and not the performance of your ISP, even if the ISP is BT retail. That is why it may look more consistent. It is only measuring part of the connection.

You should however use a speed test based in the UK as otherwise you are measuring transatlantic fibre congestion as well as your own line.

Kayak. Thanks again for help. The IE box wasn't ticked. Now works fine when speed testing via IE (still doesn't work via BT/Yahoo browser but not important). So how come the BT 'experts' didn't know about it?
My usual payment of a few grubby 5 notes is now being sent to you via the internet ether. It should land on your C drive soon. Thanks again.

Speakeasy test - yeh I know it's via Yankland but those dials are kinda cool aren't they?

Did someone around here say they were using Opera as a browser?

If so I'll fire a question.

TP